Nintendo returns to profitability, but sold only 160K Wii Us last quarter

In their latest financial report covering the three month period ended June 30th, Nintendo confirmed they managed to earn a profit of 8.62 billion yen ($88 million USD) versus a loss of 17.2 billion yen ($176 million USD) last year. However, quarterly sales dropped 3.8 percent to 81.5 billion yen ($832.8 million USD).

Nintendo notes that nearly 64 percent of this revenue was in fact generated outside of Japan, meaning the company is finally gaining valuable momentum in overseas markets like the U.S. and Europe. Digital sales accounted for 12.4 percent of the total revenue.

Nintendo attributes the change in fortunes to strong 3DS software sales last fiscal quarter, but analysts would rather point to the weaker Japanese yen as the main reason the console giant managed to post net income despite the slip in sales mentioned earlier. Indeed, Nintendo's combined hardware sales alone have dropped: 3DS hardware sales fell 25 percent year-on-year to 1.4 million units, while the company only managed to sell 160,000 Wii U consoles worldwide during this past quarter. This breaks down to 90,000 units sold in Japan, 60,000 in the U.S. and 10,000 for the "rest of the world."

To be sure, Nintendo's 3DS software sales grew 49 percent year-on-year to reach 11 million units on account of some smokin' performance from titles like Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Sales for New Leaf have now hit over 5 million units worldwide since it first launch in Japan. Other 3DS million sellers include Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (2.65 million units) and Tomodachi Collection (1.39 million).

Considerably less smokin' was Nintendo's Wii U business. Lifetime sales for Wii U hardware currently sit at some 3.61 million units worldwide, a far cry from the 5.5 million unit goal Nintendo originally set... for March 31st. Compare this to the 32.48 million 3DS handhelds sold worldwide to date! Wii U software sales meanwhile plummeted 51.3 percent year-on-year to 1.03 million units last quarter.

The company is staying course with its forecast of 100 billion yen ($1.02 billion USD) in operating income and 55 billion yen ($563 million USD) in net income for the current fiscal year. Nintendo predicted back in April that they would sell 9 million Wii U consoles worldwide before end of the fiscal year, while 3DS hardware sales would hit 18 million units.

This is not surprising news. A lot of the media is trying to create controversy over these sales, but the fact is that Nintendo said to expect these sorts of sales earlier this year. Not directly, but in financial details and quarterly earnings reports.

Really, Nintendo is writing off the Wii U as a profitable venture for months ahead. The goal for them is to eventually build up a first party library that will rival any of their previous consoles.

Essentially, they'll support the Wii U with the 3DS until consumers basically can't ignore the platform anymore. After Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, Sonic Lost World, Mario Wii U, Wii Fit U are out and Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. and Zelda Wii U are on the way... I mean damn. That's worth a $350 console to most Nintendo fans.

I don't own a Wii U. But with the games Bluexy mentioned above, it would be worth to buy the Wii U because of those games. Besides, the Wii I have now is terrible. I plan on saving my money to get a new Wii U, and a Flat-Screen TV. (Only $150 more dollars to go)

Better specs have never won a console generation/bloat development time and money/killed hundreds of studios and publishers last gen./blah blah tired argument blah.

Games are the key. Good games, and games people want to play. No one, save the die hard early adopters like a lot of us on these boards, care about the box at all. They care about the game they want to play. Be it Super Mario, Final Fantasy 7, GTA 3, Wii Sports, or Modern Warfare, the consoles that succeed have the games people want to play, and nothing else matters in the least.

Wii U should build momentum over the holiday release schedule and can hopefully maintain that momentum into next year with Kart and Smash. I think both the other two consoles are going to land with a hard thud this holiday thanks to increasing competition for people's time and the poor economy we are still facing. I think at that point it will simply be a slog to see which first party can come up with the "next big thing" game that gets everyone on board, like the examples above did in their respective generations.

Damn! I'm a huge Nintendo Fan, but Nintendo didn't obligate me to buy a Wii U yet. I had to buy N3DS when Fire Emblem launched, but Wii U just didn't do the same. On the other hand, I'm very happy to see Nintendo profitting again .. the problem is, they are getting profits with just a little portion of games, and it's very risky .. It's like Capcom!

Nintendo will get my Wii U purchase in October, when a game that I actually want to play releases.

Windwaker HD is worth purchasing it for? No way. O______O

In my opinion it is. I haven't played through Wind Waker from start to finish since about 2007. That's SIX long years. It's going to feel like a brand new experience for me, especially with the improved graphical style and the rumored "increased difficulty mode". Wind Waker is a wonderful journey that is worth embarking on once again.

But you're not looking at the bigger picture here, candyboy. Wind Waker HD is only but a small piece of the puzzle. I'm not purchasing a Wii U just for one game. By the time I'm finished sailing the great sea, Super Mario 3D World will be released. Then after that you have Mario Kart 8. And after that Smash Bros and Zelda U. etc etc